Bhonsale ghat, Alamgir masjid, Raja Man Singh Palace and seagulls, Banaras

The palace of Raja Chet Singh near Assi ghat Banaras. When Hastings imprisoned the Raja for refusing to pay an arbitrary tax, the raja made a daring escape from here and Hastings himself barely escaped with his life in 1781

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A tradition started in 1812 by the Begum of akbar shah II in thanks for the safe return of her son Mirza Jahangir, and continued for long stretches of time in mehrauli in a show of syncretic harmony now disallowed citing environmental concerns?

They are literally handing over India's wildlife to the son of Ambani, for his private zoo. This is beyond outrageous.

This is today! Do come 💙

A page from Hisham Matar’s new book, My Friends, incredibly resonant today

My essay from the exhibition catalogue for the Taj Mahal exhibition at DAG scroll.in/article/108815… via Scroll.in

Delighted that permission has been granted for the phoolwalon ki sair, to be held in Feb-March next year. I plan to be there, do you? 😊 m.thewire.in/article/cultur… via @thewire_In

In Badshah Bagh- Banaras, an astonishing Mughal necropolis where you can stumble upon the numerous graves of the later Mughals, including that of Shahzada Jawan Bakht, son of Shah Alam II, built by his wife, Qutlugh Sultan Begum

Pleased to see two friends here at Waterstones 😊 Manu S Pillai Sam Dalrymple

A Queen of Awadh, in Paris When Queen mother of Awadh Mallika Kishwar died in Paris on her way home from the UK in 1858, Le Monde newspaper carried this photo and a long description of her solemn cortège and funeral, attended by the Ottoman ambassador and her weeping son

Tomb of Jahanara Begum, Nizamuddin from Monuments of Delhi compiled by maulvi Zafar Hasan. ‘Let nothing cover my grave save grass, For grass suffices for the grave of the lowly’

Jade wine cups for Jahangir Jade being a precious material was considered suitable as a royal gift. While the left hand 1607/08 cup is jade, the one on the right is rock crystal stained green, probably to imitate jade. as it was offered to Jahangir Gifts of the Sultan

Kitney aurat the?

The blind emperor’s blind musician Though Shah Alam II was blinded in 1788 he had, till the end of his life, the consolation of miyan Himmat Khan’s divine music. Himmat K too was blind, and an exceptional player of bin and dhrupad singer K.schofield, Music & Musicians

Before Lord Curzon razed the overgrown gardens of the Taj Mahal to create the ‘English-style’ lawns, this engraving by French traveller Louis Rousselet gives an idea of the lush orchards and flowers that would have surrounded the Taj Rousselet, 1865-75, in The French and Delhi

A Mughal emperor’s disappeared Raag In 1797 Shah Alam’s ordered a compilation of his best poetry and song in the Nadirat-I Shahi in Urdu, Brajbhasha and Persian. His favourite Raag was R. Gaund, a monsoon Raag,today forgotten K.schofield, Monsoon Feelings

If the leaves are falling where you are, here’s a craft idea Chestnut leaf with calligraphy feat. The Night Journey verse in which the thuluth script looks like a boat filled with rowers, the skeleton of the leaf forming the waves Ottoman 19thc, aga khan museum

A church in India built on land gifted by a Mughal emperor, shut down under the orders of a Hindu Rani, ransacked by Afghan invaders and re-built with donations from a German Catholic mercenary Guess the church?